Barrasso: ISIL a direct threat to the United States

6/29/14 11:24 AM EDT

Sen. John Barrasso said Sunday the terrorist organization the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, is a direct threat to the United States with the capacity and intent to do harm.

“They are the richest, most powerful and most savage group of terrorists in the history of mankind, and they have taken over an area the size of Indiana bordering Syria as well as Iraq,” the Wyoming Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It is a direct threat to the United States.”

Barrasso said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “needs to go,” the United States should not be negotiating in any way with Iran and the U.S. should be arming some of the opposition in Syria.

Barrasso also said President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw from Iraq without leaving a “stay-behind force” was a mistake.

“When the president came into office in 2009, I think the world was safer than it is now,” Barrasso said. “When we, the United States, leave a vacuum anywhere, that emboldens others to go in when there is no sense of deterrence by the United States that lets bad actors move in and fill the void.”